Method and apparatus for spacing tiles and pasting same to paper



V B. LqBENSON. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPACING TILES AND PASTING SAME TIT-PAPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24, 19 20- Patentd May 24,1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET IN V EN TOR.

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B. L. BENSON.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPACING IILES AND' PASTING SAME T0 PAPER.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 24. 1920.

Patented May 24, 1921,

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENTOR.

flaw yaw B. L BENSON METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPACING TILES AND PASTING SAME T0 PAPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24. 1920.

Patented May 24, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3- B. L. BENSON. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPACING TILES AND PASTING SAME T0 PAPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24. I920. 1,379,160. 7 Patented May 24,1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BRADLEY L. BENSON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPACING TILES AND PASTING SAME T0 PAPER.

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Application filed May 24,

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BRADLEY L. Benson, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at San Francisco, in the count 1 of San Francisco and State of Californimhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods and Apparatus for Spacing Tiles and Pasting Same to Paper, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention is a method and apparatus for spacing tiles and pasting same to paper.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a machine which will form designs of various colored tile and paste the same upon sheets of paper properly spaced one from the other.

Another object of this invention is to produce a machine which will handle by gravity various colored tiles which may be em ployed in a design, and will release the dit ferent colors at proper intervals to form intricate designs without the necessity of employing manual labor. At the present time, tile designs are formed upon boards having upstanding spacers thereon and tile must be manually placed on the board which is a tedious operation, especially in assembling colored designs, such as borders or fioor patterns.

Obviously, mechanical means which will space and paste sheets of tile containing various colors of tile such as borders and floor designs will result in rapidity of work, uniformity of spacing and accuracy in re peated production of design.

In this specification and the annexed drawings, the invention is illustrated in the form considered to be the best, but it to be understood that the invention is not limited to such form, because it may be embodied in other forms and it is also to be understood that in and by the claims tol lowing the description it is desired to cover the invention in whatever form it may be embodied.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my complete machine.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1, partly broken away.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional detail view of the spacing and pasting mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of an escapemcnt.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the po- Speeification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 24:, 1921.

1920. Serial No. 383,978.

sition taken by tile in passing around the pasting roller.

F 1g. 6 is an enlarged detail view in cross section of the escapement dogs.

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 1s a detail view of a chute having a tile therein.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic view of a design formed with tile of two colors.

Flg. 10 is a fragmentary view showing the method for alining the tile and Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view showing the method of staggering the tile.

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic View in side elevation showing a modification of my invention adapted to handle several colors of tile.

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 12 wherein the mechanism is operated electrically.

In the drawings like numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.

The numeral 5 designates a rectangular base frame and numeral 6 a rectangular top frame. These frames are connected at their corners by uprights 7, 8, 9 and 11.

The numeral 12 designates cross pieces connecting the uprights 7 and 8 and 9 and 11. These cross pieces 12 serve to support a pasting roller 13, near one end thereof. This pasting roller is journaled as shown at 14 and carries a gear 16 at one end thereof. Pivoted at the point 17 is a frame 18 carrying a grooved roller 19 thereon. A similar grooved roller 21 is journaled in the bottom frame 5 as shown at 22. The numeral 23 designates an idler can ried by the uprights 8 and 11. The position of the rollers 19 and 21 such that a series of belts 2 1 will tend to contact the periphery of the pasting roller 13. These belts 2% are preferably made of rubber and are held apart from one another through the medium of the grooves formed in the rollers 19 and 21. The direction of the movement of the belts is indicated by the arrow 26 and it will be noted that the same pass over the idler 23, the purpose of which is to prevent frictional contact oi the belts in travel.

The tension of the belts or the pressure of same on the pasting roller may be adjusted by screws 20 which are threaded in the frame 18 and bear against the members 8 and 11.

At 27 I have shown a take off table which is suitably supported upon the base 5 and Y roller 21.

has a projecting end 28 provided with teeth 29, which extend into the grooves of the These teeth serve to take ofi any material brought down by the belts as is best shown in Fig. 3. This take off table is adapted to deliver any material received thereon to an endless conveyer 3'1, whence it is conveyed to any convenient point.

It is desirable to have the conveyer belt 31 travel at a speed greater than that of the pasting roller 13 to draw away the pasted sheets.

The numerals 32 designate inclined strips attached to the sides of the frame of the machine and forming a support for the lower ends of the main tile carrying chutes, which chutes are designated by the numerals 33. These main chutes may be formed in any convenient manner and have their lower ends extending to a point adjacent the periphery of the pasting roller 13, and substantially on a tangent thereto. A second series of auxiliary chutes is indicated by the nu- 1 meral 34. This second series has its lower end in contact with the top of the chutes 33,

but at a point removed from the lower ends of chutes 33. These chutes 34 will be hereinafter referred toas communicating chutes. They overlie the main chutes 33 and register therewith and are adapted to feed into said chute so that any chute of series 33 may be fed by any of the chutes 34 which lie directly above at various angles. These chutes 34 are supported upon the inclined members 32 by a suitable bracket 36 and have their upper ends supported by a bracket 37. The numerals 38 designate brackets attached to the sides of the chutes 33 and 34 which brackets support an escapement mechanism designated in general by the numeral 39. This escapement mechanism consists of a built up member which carries a series of dogs best shown in Figs. 6 and 7, there being one set of dogs for each chute and the same are so arranged that the dogs extend into the chute.

By referring to Figs. 6 and 7 itwill be noted that there are two dogs in each set which bear numerals 41 and 42, eachof which is pivoted upon a pintle .43 which passes through the transverse built upmember 39 and supports all of the dogs in the series. The dog 41 will hereafter be termed the release dog and the dog'42 will be hereinafter termed the holding dog. A spring 44 is coiled about the pintle 43 and has its ends in contact with the dogs 41 and 42 in such a manner as to cause the dogs to extend downward into the chute. I V

The dogs41 and 42 are normally held in position shown in Fig. 4 by springs 45, which press against the upper surfaces of pins 50, Fig. 6. The lower surfaces of said pins rest on members 55 of the built up member 39 to act as stops for the release dogs 41.

The numerals 46 designate pattern rolls said rolls will contact with the cam surfaces 48 of the release dogs 41 when the pattern rollers 46 are rotated. This operation is best shown in Fig. 4.

The patterns referred to are usually pasted on sheets of paper approximately one by two feet in size regardless of the size of tile used. Obviously the number of pattern pins on the rollers 46 will be determined by the size of the tile used.

My purpose is to provide a pattern pin for each tile in the entire pattern on each roller, so that when the rollers ar rotated in time with the pasting roller a tile may be dropped from any of the communicating chutes by placing a pin in the roller governing said chute.

In order to rotate the various rollers be fore mentioned, I provide a motor 49 which drives through a suitable belt 50 and speed reduction gearing 51 and 52 to a shaft 53. This shaft 53 carries worms 54 and 56 thereon which worms in turn mesh with gears 5'? and 58 carried upon the pattern rollers 46. A beveled gear 59 is carried upon the end of the shaft 53 and in turn meshes with a beveled gear 61 carried upon a vertical shaft 62. This vertical shaft in turn carries a worm 63 which meshes with a gear 16 carried uponthe pasting roller 13. It will now be observed that as the motor rotates, all of the rollers will be caused to rotate as indicated by the arrows adjacent thereto. I

The numeral 64 designates an alining bar which is attached to the periphery of the roller 13 as best shown in Fig. 3. The purpose ofthis alining bar is shown in Fig. 10 and serves to act as a stop for tile delivered from the lower ends of the main chutes 33 to the periphery of the pasting roller 13. The function of this bar will be better disclosed hereafter.

The numeral 66 designates a cam carried upon one end of the pasting roller 13 and is adapted to contact with a lever 67, which is attached to a transverse rod 68, which rod in turn is pivoted in suitable supports 69 which are secured to the inclined member 32. This rod 63 carries a series of fingers 71., whichiingers are adapted to move into and out of the path. of the tile as best shown in 3, the movement depending upon the action of the cam 66 and the spring 72.

The purpose of this arrangement is to interrupt momentarily the flow of tile from the main chutes 33 for the purpose of starting each sheet of pasted tile with a square edge. If the tile were fed continuously through the machine any inequality of spacing due to uneven size of tile would be transmitted from one sheet to the next. This is obviated by the mechanism just described.

The tiles are kept in contact as they pass to the pasting roller 13 by the combined weight of the several tiles between the pasting roller and the ends of the communicating chutes, as shown in Fig. 3. In order to prevent any tendency to buckle upwardly, I provide a bar 76, Fig. 3, extending the width of the machine.

The numerals 7 3 designate glass strips supported above the ends of the chutes 33 and 84, the purpose of which will be later described.

In operation, the chutes 33 and 34 are filled with tile and for the purpose of illustration, we will assume that red tile is placed in the chutes 34 and white tile in the chutes 83. Pattern rollers are then inserted in the machine, the same having a series of pins therein which pins are prearranged so as to contact with the release dogs in proper sequence to form given combinations of tile. When the motor is started, the parts will commence to rotate with the result that the release and holding dogs will start to function. Their function is as follows:

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be noted that the pattern pin 47 is about to contact with the cam surface 48 of the release dog 41. This results in the holding dog 42 coming in contact with the tile marked A. As soon as this contact is made, continued movement of the pin 47 will cause the release dog 41 to continue movement until the tile marked B is released, and allowed to slide down the chute as indicated by dotted lines at C of Fig. 6.

It will be seen in Figs. 6 and 7 that the release dog 41 and the holding dog 42 are pivoted on a common pivot 43 and that they are normally held in the position shown in Fig. 4 by the spring 44, but that the dog 42 has a slight movement in a bifurcated portion of the dog 41 which permits the two dogs to assume the relative position shown in Fig. 6.

The spring connection 44 between the dogs allows of this action and the springs 45 return the dogs to their normal. position as soon as the pattern pin releases the same.

These pattern rollers will be so arranged that a sufiicient number of tiles would be dropped at one time to form a course across the machine and in contact with the fingers 71. For the purpose of illustration we will say that 15 tile are dropped, consisting of six reds and nine whites, the reds dropping from the chutes 34 passing beneath the glass 7 3 and into the lower ends of the chutes while the whites pass down the chutes 33 beneath the glass 73 and take their position in the course, it being understood however that the whites were selected from chutes not traversed by reds in their movement through. the lower parts of the chutes The glass above referred to allows the pattern being formed to be seen before it passes to the pasting roller.

By referring to Fig. 9, it will be noted that seven whites were dropped and eight reds in the first course, while in the second course, eight whites were dropped and seven reds. The remaining courses are formed in a similar manner, it depending entirely upon the arrangement of the pattern pins.

Assuming now that seven or eight courses have been formed in thelower ends of the chutes 33 the cam 66 will contact with the arm 67 which will raise the fingers 71, allowing the tile to move forward and into contact with the alinement bar 64. In order that these tile may be spaced one from another I incline the bottom of the chutes as shown in Fig. 8, which results in the tile all being moved by gravity to one side of the chute so that when they strike the alinement bar 64 they are equally spaced one from the other in transverse relation to the chutes. A sheet of paper 74 having a moist glued surface is fed around the curved roller 19 under the bar 76 and is engaged by the tile which are at this time in contact with the alinement bar 64. Continued movement of the pasting roller 13 results in delivering the tile to the take ofi' table 27 whence it is delivered to the conveyer 31. In passing the tile around the periphery of the pasting roller 13 I accomplish two things. That is, I cause the tile to adhere to the paper being pressed against the paper by the belts 24, without allowing the glued surface of the paper to come in contact with any of the working parts of the machine and I also utilize the areuate surface of the roller for the purpose of spacing the courses, as, owing to their thickness they are caused to abut as shown in Fig. 5 at one edge and to be spaced apart at their opposite edges. This results in the courses being spaced when the paper is laid flat as shown in Fig. 9. Should it be desirable to form a pattern wherein the tiles should be staggered or what is termed broken joints, I remove the alinement bar 64 and replace the same so that the tile will contact therewith as shown in 11, the result being that every other line of tile is back spaced, producing the staggered effect. The alinement bar 64 is held in relief on the pasting roller 13 by screws as shown in Figs. 8, 10 and 11. When in the position shown in Fig. 10 it acts as a straight edge for alining the courses of tile transverse to the line of travel. By removing the screws and reversing the bar 64 a notched or staggered edge is presented to the tile as shown in Fig, 11. Thus it will be seen that I have produced a machine which will handle tile, distributing the same in courses having different colors therein, the distribution depending merely upon the arrangement of pattern pins and that after so forming my pattern in the tile, I have utilized the curvature of an arcuate surface for the purpose of pasting and spacing which heretofore has only been accomplished by a very tedious manual process.

Obviously the space between courses will be determined by the diameter of the pasting roller. Hexagon or oblong or herringbone tile may be fed and pasted in the same essary to place the pattern forming rollers at a point remote from the discharge end of the chutes for lack of room for same at the points of convergence.

In Fig. 12 I show levers 8O pivoted at 81 and adapted to be reciprocateo by pattern pins 47 on rollers 46 to actuate the release dogs 4-1.

In 13, I show a similar mechanism in which the release dogs d1 are actuated electrically by means of solenoids 81 energized by wires 82 and in this case the pattern pins 47 would be of a material adapted to close an electrical circuit controlling said solenoids.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. In a device of the character described, a series of main chutes, a seconc series of chutes having communication with saic main chutes, each series of chutes being adapted to contain tile, and selective mechanism mounted adjacenteach of said series of chutes, an escapement mechanism extending into said chutes and adapted to be actuated by said selective mechanism t is purpose out intermittently releasing; signal tiles from a plurality of selected chutes to form a tile-course and means for pasting said course so formed, to a sheet or paper.

2. In a tile machine series or". main chutes adapted to contain tile of a single color, plurality oi": series of auxiliary chutes having communication with said main chutes, each of said auxiliary chutes being adapted to contain tile ot a different color from those contained in the main chutes. pattern rollers mounted adjacent each of said series of chutes and an escapement mechanism controlled by said pattern roll-' ers and adapted to control the holding and releasing or" said tile in said chutes for the color, plurality of series of auxiliary chutes having communication with said main chutes, each of said auxiliary chutes being adapted to contain tile ot a different color than those contained in the main chutes, pattern rollers mounted adjacent each of said series of chutes, an escapement mechanism controlled by said pattern rollers and adapted to control the holding and releasing of said tile in said chutes for the purpose of capement mechanism controlled by said pattern rollers and adapted to control the holding and releasing of said tile in said chutes for the purpose of forming a pattern in the lower extremity of said main chutes, a pastinnroller having its periphery adjacent the end of said main chutes and substantially tangential therewith, and a cam carried on said pasting roller for controllmg the (llS- charge of tile from the said chutes to the periphery of said roller.

5. In a device of the character described a plurality of series of chutes adapted to contain tile of various sorted colors, a pasting roller mounted adjacent the lower extremity of one of said series of chutes, grooved means for discharging said tile from said chutes to said pasting roller, means for alining said tile so discharged and a plurality of belts for the purpose of holding said tile in contact with said pasting roller during a portion of its revolution.

6. A mechanism for spacing and pasting loose til s to paper consisting of a plurality of chutes so arranged that tiles will slide therethroue h in processions by gravity,

means for interrupting the said processions,

means for releasing the leading tile in any of said processions and at the same time retarding the remainder of the procession, and interchangeable pattern means adapted to selectively operate the said releasing; means in any of said chutes.

7. The method of pasting tiles in spaced relation to each other to a binder, such as paper, consisting oi passing" the tiles to be pasted over an arcuate surface incontacting relation, in such a manner that the surfaces to be pasted will be spaced apart, and pasting the said tiles to a sheet while on said arcuate surface. r

8. A mechanism for assembling loose tiles and the like in patterns comprising a main chute, provided with means for passing thereover in processions a plurality of courses of tile of one color, means for momentarily interrupting said processions, and means for dropping into said processions tiles of different colors during said momentary interruption.

9. A mechanism for assembling loose tiles and the like in patterns comprising a main chute provided with means for passing thereover in processions a plurality of courses of tile of one color, means for momentarily interrupting said processions, means for dropping into said processions tiles of different colors during said momentary interruption, and means for determining the periodicity of said interruptions.

10. A device for uniformly spacing tiles and the like comprising an inclined plane adapted to conduct tiles thereon by gravity, raised spacers on said incline to conduct the tiles in courses lengthwise of the path of travel, means for crowding said courses against the said spacers in a common direction during travel to uniformly space the tiles in a direction transverse to the line of travel and an arcuate surface at the termination of said inclined plane adapted to radially space the tiles in a direction lengthwise of the path of travel.

11. A device for uniformly spacingtiles and the like comprising an inclined plane adapted to conduct tiles thereoverby gravity, raised spacers on said incline to conduct the tiles in courses lengthwise of the path of travel, means for crowding said courses against the said spacers in a common direction during travel to uniformly space the tiles in a direction transverse to the line of travel, an arcuate surface at the termination of said inclined plane adapted to radially space the tiles in a direction lengthwise of the path of travel and means adjacent the arcuate surface for periodically interrupting the flow of tile thereover to deliver in predetermined quantities.

12. A device for uniformly spacing tiles and the like comprising an inclined plane adapted to conduct tiles thereover by gravity, raised spacers on said incline to conduct the tiles in courses lengthwise of the path of travel, means for crowding said courses against the said spacers in a common direction during travel to uniformly space the tiles in a direction transverse to the line of travel, an arcuate surface at the termination of said inclined plane adapted to radially space the tiles in a direction lengthwise of the path of travel, means adjacent the arcuate surface for periodically interrupting the flow of tile thereover to deliver in predetermined quantities and means for alining in a direction perpendicular to the path of travel the advance side of each quantity of tile during said interruptions.

13. A device for spacing tiles for pasting, comprising an inclined plane adapted to conduct loose tiles thereover by ravity, raised spacers on said incline to divide the loose tiles into courses lengthwise of the path of travel, means for causing the courses so formed to contact during travel with the sides of said spacers in a common direction to space said tiles in a direction transverse to the line of travel, a revolving roller in substantially tangential relation to said incline, adapted to space the tiles in passing thereover in. a direction transverse to the path of travel.

14. A device for spacing tiles for pasting, comprising an inclined plane adapted to conduct loose tiles thereover by gravity, raised spacers on said incline to divide the loose tiles into courses lengthwise of the path of travel, means for causing the courses so formed to contact during travel with the sides of said spacers in. a common direction to space said tiles in a direction transverse to the line of travel, a revolving roller in substantially tangential relation to said incline, adapted to space the tiles in passing thereover in a direction transverse to the path of travel, and means synchronized with said roller for periodically interrupting the flow of tile to divide the delivery into predetermined quantities.

15. A device for spacing tiles for pasting, comprising an inclined plane adapted to conduct loose tiles thereover by gravity, raised spacers on said incline to divide the loose tiles into courses lengthwise of the path of travel, means for causing the courses so formed to contact during travel with the sides of said spacers in a common direction to space said tiles in a direction transverse to the line of travel, a revolving roller in substantially tangential relation to said incline, adapted to space the tiles in passing thereover in a direction transverse to the path of travel, means synchronized with said roller for periodically interrupting the flow of the tile to divide the delivery into predetermined quantities, and a straight edge in relief on said roller adapted to square the leading side of each quantity as it leaves the incline.

16. A device for spacing tiles for pasting, comprising an inclined plane adapted to conduct loose tiles thereover by gravity, raised spacers on said incline to divide the loose tiles into courses lengthwise of the path of travel, means for causing the courses so formed to contact during travel with the sides of said spacers in a common direction to space said tiles in a direction transverse to the line of travel, a revolving roller in substantially tangential relation to said incline, adapted to space the tiles in passing thereover in a direction transverse to the path of travel, means synchronized with said roller for periodically interrupting the flow of the tile to divide the delivery into predetermined quantities, a straight edge in relief on said roller adapted to square the 7 leading side of each quantity as it leaves the incline and means on said roller for back spacing alternate courses oftiles to form broken joints.

1?. In a pasting machine a roller, means for passing the articles to be pasted in courses over said roller to be spaced radialr; in passing, means for applying a pasted sheet to said articles when so spaced, and means for applying pressure to each course (Luring the rotation of said roller to insure contact between the sheet and the articles.

18. in a pasting machine a roller, means for passing the articles to be pasted in courses over said roller to be spaced radially in passing, means for applying a pasted sheet to said articles when so spaced. means for applying pressure to each course'during the rotation of said roller to insure contact between the sheet and the articles, said .means comprising a plurality of endless belts adapted to travel over grooved rollers and adapted to press the pasted sheet to the articles to be pasted while traversing a part oi"- the periphery of said roller.

19. In a pasting machine a roller, means for passing the articles to be pasted in courses over said roller to be spaced radially in passing, means for applying a pasted sheet to said articles when so spaced, means for applying pressure to each course during the rotation of said roller to insure contact between the sheet and the articles, said means comprising a plurality of endless belts adapted to travel over grooved rollers and adapted to press the pasted sheet to the articles to be pasted while traversing a part ofthe periphery ofsaid roller, and a take off for removing said sheet with the articles pasted thereto comprising a plurality of fingers projecting into the grooves of one of said grooved rollers. V

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

- BRADLEY L. BENSON. 

